When I get to the hospital, I see my mum sitting in the reception area. Swallowing down my fear, I tell a member of staff I’m here to take her home. She looks up at me with watery blue eyes, barely focusing, and I can tell she’s been drinking again.
“Shane?” she asks.
I help her up and hand over the crutches the hospital provided before leading her out to the bus stop. She comes willingly, and I stay silent the whole way back to Banstead. Luckily, she sleeps for most of it, and I tell myself I’ll see her to the front door then go straight back to Teddy’s.
Once the front door’s unlocked, I turn to leave. “Bye Mum,” I say, voice cracking. Everything I’ve been holding together snaps, knowing that I mean forever. I never had the chance to say goodbye when I moved in with Teddy. Not that she deserved it. She’d checked out of being a parent straight after Dad died.
“Bailey?” she says quietly.
I turn to look at her, tears blurring my vision. “Yeah.”
Her face turns to stone, and she shoves the door open, stumbling over cans and bottles that litter the floor as she makes her way to the living room. I can’t help but step inside, taking in the mess before me. Nothing’s changed. She’s still drinking, andno one’s bothering to keep the place clean. The place stinks of stale beer and cigarette smoke.
“This is all your fault.” She points to her leg.
I freeze in the doorway.
“I found what you hid in the treehouse,” she slurs, “caught my ankle as I was trying to get down from the ladder. You’re sick, Bailey. I don’t understand where we went so wrong with you. Shane had told me you’d stopped doing it.”
A spike of fear lances through my chest as she picks up her phone, pointing it at me.
“Why did you come back? You should have stayed away.”
A breeze hits the back of my neck as the front door swings open and Shane comes in. “Hey, look who came home. Do we need to make a welfare check on Theo?” he says seriously.
I flinch at the accusation. I wouldn’t—I would never hurt Teddy.
“Shut up Shane,” Mum barks, glaring at me. “I want him gone. He’s fucked in the head—doing it all over again.”
Shane squints at me. “What’s happened?”
I open my mouth to speak, but invisible fingers wrap around my throat, making it impossible.
“Your brother is a fucking psychopath. Animals in the treehouse, mutilated. Just like what I used to find in his room.” Her face turns thunderous as she looks me dead in the eye. “I should have told the police years ago what happened to your father. I protected you because I wanted to believe it was an accident. But it wasn't, was it? This shit has been going on foryears.” She pushes the keypad on the phone three times, looking past me to Shane. “He’s never going to stop.”
I can’t breathe.
“What are you doing, Mum?” Shane asks, shoving past me.
She puts the phone to her ear. “He’s not going to stop, Shane!” she chokes out, tears welling up in her eyes. “It's not myfault, whatever’s wrong with him. He’s eighteen; the police need to deal with him.”
Shane moves quickly, wrestling the phone off her and ending the call before it can connect. “We don’t need to call the police. Come on, Mum, I won’t let him do anything. Let me talk to him, find out what’s going on.”
She looks up at him, face red with frustration, then back to me. Her blue eyes turn dark, and I see no love in them at all. The last threads of her maternal instincts fraying until they snap completely. “I want him out of my house,” she spits.
“Here,” Shane says, pulling a clear zip bag from his pocket. He hands her a pill, and she takes it quickly, lying back on the sofa. She throws an arm over her eyes and mutters, “Get out.”
Shane grabs my arm in a vice-like grip. “It’s been too long, little mouse. I think you’re due a reminder of why you should behave.”
After dragging me up the stairs, Shane nudges me toward the bed. “On your stomach.”
I hear the bedroom door lock, and ice-cold tendrils wrap around my body. Tears well up in my eyes as I wonder how I let myself get here. My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth, and I force my heavy legs to move. I don’t know how long those animals have been in the treehouse; I’m sure I haven’t had a blackout since living with Teddy. He hasn’t mentioned me disappearing or doing anything out of the ordinary. I’ve been stuck to his side twenty-four-seven.
I swallow down the bile as it creeps up. I thought I’d been good since moving out. That being away from here made me better.
“Shirt off,” Shane says calmly.
My hands shake as I pull my T-shirt over my head and let it drop to the floor. Over the years, I’ve learnt that if I behave thenthis will all be over quicker. I lie on the bed and bury my face in my duvet so Shane can’t see the tears streaming down my face.
